Thirty-seven-year-old Panayiota leads a quiet, modest life with her husband (a domineering presence who spends his meagre unemployment income at gambling parlours), her rebellious teenage daughter, and her sensitive younger son. Sacrificing and servile (and nearly illiterate) Panayiota is trapped within a domestic environment that prevents her from achieving independence. One day, an opportunity for employment as a cleaner at a nearby mall stirs in her the excitement of a new life. Eager but introverted, she quickly becomes a model employee, gains financial independence, and expands her social life beyond the walls of her apartment. Back home, the family looks on with respect at Panayiota’s blossoming freedom. Yet her newly gained autonomy stands to be prematurely pruned by a series of layoffs at work.